The Enclave of Jyme (G Street Chronicles Presents) (18 page)

“Can I get back with you after my lunch meeting?”

Patty hung up the phone and I slid the phone back into my pocket. I couldn’t help but smile. I was holding Cricket’s hand and it reminded me of high school; I had the knots in my stomach and everything. I was acting like a girl and I had to man-up quickly. The elevator doors opened and almost everyone climbed off but this douche who just stood there like my dick was hanging out in front of him or something. He wore a three-piece suit, and I could tell he thought he was the shit.

“Cricket, I didn’t know you were leaving the office for lunch. I brought you something back from the deli,” the dick told her.

“Yes, I am,” was all my Chestnut goddess gave him. That’s right, baby; give that fucker the cold shoulder. The elevator door started closing and I slid my hand in between the doors. The dick was in shock and I guess he couldn’t move. The ass wipe finally moved so we could step in. I glared at his stupid ass and he was looking at our hands. We stepped hand in hand on the elevator and turned back to face the dick. He just stood there with his bags; staring at us like a fucking idiot. It was more than obvious that Cricket didn’t see him the way he saw her. I mean hell…she was holding my fucking hand.

When we made it out of the building, I knew exactly where I wanted to take her. I wanted to get something light so I could talk her into having dinner with me tonight. We hadn’t even made it to our lunch date and I was already planning dinner.

“Do you like sushi?” I asked.

“Yes,” she smiled up at me. I wanted to kiss those softly glossed lips.

“Banzai has the best sushi and it’s not far from here,” I assured her. I didn’t want her to not know where we were going.

“Okay.”

We made it to the truck and I held the door for her without letting go of her hand. She stepped up on the running board and sat securely in the seat. I finally released her hand, hating I had to do that. I walked over to the driver’s side, climbed in, and pulled my seatbelt on. As I started the truck and began to pull out, the radio was blasting a Beyoncé song. Cricket burst into hysterical laughter.

“Sorry, it’s been a long day,” she waved it off. I wondered what that was about. She grinned from ear to ear on the way to the restaurant.

When we made it to the parking lot, I went over and opened the door for her and helped her out. I wanted to hold her hand again, but didn’t want to look too desperate. We walked side by side until we made it out to the walkway and I had her walk in front of me. I watched her move and she looked just as I expected. Her dress hugged and wrapped around every one of her amazing curves. That ass in that dress should have been illegal. I couldn’t stop staring at it. It was so big and round. I just wanted to stick my whole face in it.

When we got to the table, the male waiter held her chair out for her. I sat after she did. I ordered one of the samplers and a Coke, and she had water and sake. We had the house soup. I couldn’t help but stare at her; I was so fascinated. She looked so glamorous and her skin looked so soft.

“So what do you do for a living?” she asked me. I loved her sultry voice and it made me smile every time I heard it.

“I’m a fisherman.”

She nodded and frowned a little; straightening herself in her chair.

“What?” I asked her. I could tell something was on her mind.

“Excuse me?” she said, knowing good damn well what I was talking about.

“You got this look on your face.”

“I’m trying to picture you fishing, and I can’t see it,” she explained.

Well, since she couldn’t picture it, I decided to paint her a picture of what I do.

“I go out into the deep waters on a boat. I normally wear a tank top, shorts, and fishing boots,” I told her. She must have thinking about something naughty because her cheeks turned red almost instantly.

“Oh yes, I can picture that,” she told me while taking a sip of her water. I couldn’t help but to smile at her wicked thoughts. I wished I knew what she was thinking about.

Just then, my phone buzzed and I saw Mom had called me eight times.

“I’m sorry, I really need to take this. Could you please order me the Godzilla and the California Roll?”

She nodded.

“Please excuse me.”

She nodded again.

I went outside to call Mom back.

“Lil Samson, we’re at the hospital with Elle. She was in a car wreck,” Mom said frantically through the phone.

“How is she doing?” I asked.

“You need to get here,” she told me.

“Mom, how bad is she?” I asked.

The phone hung up. I tried calling her back, but there was no answer. I called Patty to get the real scoop of the situation.

“Hello?”

“Patty, do you have time to talk to me? Where are you?”

“At the boutique; why what’s up?”

“Mom just called and said that Elle had been in an accident and that I needed to get to the hospital at once. And then she hung up the phone and now she’s not answering the phone,” I growled into the phone.

“I heard it was only a fender binder and that she was fine, but I will double check real quick. Hold on a sec.”

I stood there pacing back and forth in front of the entrance. Patty had put me on hold to get the real info on Elle. If she was gravely ill, I would go and check on her. But if this was one of my mother’s ploys to get me back with Elle, I wasn’t falling for it. One minute she hated the girl’s guts, and then the next she loved her and wanted me with no one else.

“Lil Samson, it’s not serious at all. She has a bump on her head and that’s it,” Patty told me.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, I just talked to her myself,”

“I knew it.”

Mom had been known to do some devious shit in her day, but this is just right down all kinds of fucked up.

“Thanks, Patty. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay.”

“I’m serious. I will call you the instant I get done,” I assured her.

“I know you will. Have fun. I hope I get to meet her soon,” she pried.

“Patty!”

“Okay, okay, love you,” she said with a giggle.

“Love you too,” I told her. I hung up the phone and went back to Cricket. She was sitting there with her thick juicy legs crossed underneath the table. I sat down and she didn’t look at me. She looked all around the restaurant. I hoped she wasn’t pissed at me about taking the call. The waiter topped our drinks and I waited for him to leave.

“I’m deeply sorry about taking that call. I know that is extremely rude and not a good look for our first...lunch,” I added at the end. She looked at me, nodded, and gave me a wide smile. I smiled back at her and she just stared into my eyes for a long moment. Whatever spell she was casting on me was extremely powerful.

“So, you grew up on the isolated reservation. How was that life for you?” she asked. “But if that’s too personal, I understand completely.”

I shook my head and winked. “Cricket, you can ask me anything,” I assured her.

She shook a little and closed her eyes for a quick second. The waiter came with our food and we started eating.

“I went out on my first fishing boat when I was five. I’ve been doing it ever since. Fishing in the ocean is just like regular fishing, we just use a bigger net,” I jokingly told her. She laughed one big hard laugh aloud and then caught herself. She stifled her laughing then.

“I can catch just about anything. My nickname is the Fish Whisperer. My mom used to pick with me about it when I was younger. She’d say when I walked by the stove, the fish would try to jump out the frying pan to get near me.”

I thought about all those times mom would pretend she couldn’t hold on to the pan and say the fish were so strong and they wanted to be friends with me.

Cricket looked like she really was enjoying my company and that made my chest knot up again. After a long silent stare at each other, the waiter came back and slid me the check.

“Do you want dessert?” I asked her, not wanting the lunch date to end.

“No, I didn’t see anything I wanted,” she giggled. That didn’t sit well with me. I wanted her to have any and everything she ever wanted. I had to know what she was thinking and what dessert she wanted.

“What’s your all-time favorite dessert?” I asked her.

“Um, I guess cheesecake,” she said. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. If I didn’t know anything, I knew the best cheesecake place in the world. I slid the money for the check and a fifty dollar tip in the money folder.

“Cheesecake? Okay, I know a place,” I stood and held a hand out for hers. She placed her hand in mine and we left the restaurant. There were several people watching us from their tables. She seemed oblivious to the attention, but I noticed each and every eye that was on us. I gave each eye a quick smile.

We held hands again as we walked back to the truck. I opened her door and she climbed in like a pro with her high heels.

When I started the truck, the music started instantly, and I cut an eye over at her just to see if the hysterics were going to start up again. She sucked her lips in like she was trying not to laugh. I wondered why she acted like that with the music. Did she think I listened to girly music? I just listened to the local radio stations. She looked out the window and I wondered what was on her mind.

“What is your name? Lil Samson or Jyme?”

I couldn’t help but to grin at her. “My name is Jamerson, but my friends call me Jyme.”

“What do you want me to call you?”

So many thoughts came into my head then.
Baby, Love, My King, My World, My God, OOH and Jesus.
I knew what I wanted her to call me…Jyme. But she had to make that decision on her own.

“You can call me whatever,” I told her, but she said nothing more.

We pulled into The Confectional parking lot. I turned off the truck and turned to Cricket.

“Stay put,” she just looked at me not saying a word. I got out and went to the door and opened it to help her out. Last time Cricket had opened the door and was about to get out before I could make it over to the door. I didn’t want her doing that ever again. I captured her hand and didn’t let it go until we got to the door. Cricket had deep hand lines and I traced a finger inside her palm trying to see how far it went. Cricket gripped my hand tighter. I looked at her and she was biting her bottom lip and then her cheeks were blushing. I saw Cricket eyeing the caramel through the display glass.

“Yes, I would like a Caramel, Mochaccino, two cocoas and waters please.”

The woman behind the counter smiled and went to get our order. I had to let Cricket’s hand go when I got the tray and I missed it already. Cricket cut her cupcake into four slices. She used her fork and slid the first piece into her mouth. She closed her eyes and there was a quiet
mmm
. I laughed at her and her eyes opened wide. She looked a bit shocked, like she had forgotten where she was.

“You’re feeling that one, aren’t you?” I asked her.

“Mmm. Yes, I am. That tastes so good that it should be illegal. This cheesecake would mend any broken heart.”

“I beg to differ,” I said under my breath, trying to catch my thoughts before my stupid fucking mouth said it. I could feel her looking at me, but I just looked down at my cheesecake. I was desperate so I said a silent prayer to a God that I didn’t believe in, for her not to ask me any questions about what I had just mumbled. I had never prayed to him before so I wasn’t sure if he would listen to me or not. She took another bite of one of her slices and I took a bite out of mine.

“So, have you had many broken hearts?” she asked with a wide smile.

Fuck, I didn’t want to have to talk about Elle. I didn’t want my caramel goddess knowing my dirty laundry just yet.

“No, just one,” I admitted.

“Well, I’ve had a few; but you know what they say: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” she said it so nonchalantly. This subject obviously didn’t freak her out.

“How many boyfriends have you had?” I asked. She looked up at me and I could tell with her clinched jaw locking that I had fucked up. I thought she was open with this conversation, but apparently I was wrong.

“Do you mind if I finish my dessert before we discuss our sex partners?”

“What?! I just asked you how many boyfriends you had. I never mentioned anything about sex,” I explained.

“Boyfriends, sex, what’s the difference?” she spit out.

“What?” I asked her.

“Look can we go? I need to get back,” she asked icily. I was just about to get up, but then I thought about something. I looked down at my Reactor Chronograph watch.

“You told the girl at the desk you were taking two hours; you still have forty-five minutes,” I said with a frown.

“I need to prepare for a meeting,” she lied and now I knew when she smiled wide at me it was forced or a lie. I tried to shake off what I just discovered about her. I stood and reached out for her hand. She didn’t give my hand a second look. She collected her purse from the back of the chair and walked toward the exit. I had to step a little quickly to keep up with her. This girl could walk in some heels. I opened the door and reached for her hand. She got in and pulled the door shut. I walked over to my side and got in. We put our seatbelts on and she pushed out a long breath. I couldn’t let this end like this. I had to do something.